Hey! Lookee! Another NEWSIE and it hasn’t even been three years, hee-hee. After the last one in December it dawned on me that there were a few things that happened during the long, quiet, no-NEWSIE stretch that I failed to update you on. I thought you might like to hear about them now.

But first…

BOOK STUFF: In December’s NEWSIE I recapped what happened in late 2019 with the big brain break and with the ongoing struggle with severe cognitive dysfunction that left me unable to write and how in early 2023 I learned that there was an undiagnosed chronic illness behind it all. Shortly after the diagnosis “I opened a blank document, put fingers to keyboard, and set out to explain what I’d learned about this illness and how it connected to my inability to get words on the page. I thought it might take a couple of weeks—a month at most—to say what needed to be said, which at the beginning was very little. But as I wrote I researched for accuracy, and as I researched I learned, and as I learned I fell deeper into the medical literature, and through this process of writing, researching, and explaining I found answers. It took one year, eight months, and two-hundred thousand words to finish. In the process I figured out what I needed to do to heal my body and bring my brain back online.”

This story now exists as a bona fide book, and this, my ninth book, is now ready to go out into the world. Nonfiction and highly personal, it is the most meaningful thing I have ever written or ever will write. You can download it free at:

Writing is lonely work and that’s even more true for this two-year project that deals with such highly specialized subject matter. If you do read the book and care to share your thoughts I would love to have that interaction. This edition has not been copyedited and is undoubtedly still rife with typos and punctuation errors. I also welcome those types of corrections.

Now for the things I failed to update you on…

HACK THE CRAFT: For the aspiring authors and anyone else interested in better understanding the craft, there now exists a single spot where you can access every creative writing video tutorial and podcast episode I’ve done. Having everything in one place is fantastic in itself, but the true value of the site is a searchable database that allows a user to sort through years of content on a topic-by-topic basis. This database is currently in a beta state but is fully accessible and functional. It also wouldn’t exist at all, in any form, if not for the volunteers who gave up so many hours going back through years of podcast episodes to notate and tag smaller audio segments, and the volunteers who coded the backend and broke the podcasts down into their smaller audio files. This entire project exists as a labor of love and it’s my hope I’ll eventually be able to dedicate the time to build off what has already been started by tweaking the data fields to make the search returns even more valuable. If you’re interested you can find it all at:

www.hackthecraft.com

MOVIE STUFF: To explain where we are with this now, I have to explain how we got to where we are. This particular adventure starts in 2013 when James Cameron (yes, that James Cameron) randomly stumbled across The Informationist at an airport bookstore. At that time he’d already announced that he was shutting down his production company, Lightstorm Entertainment, with the intent of only focusing on Avatar movies going forward. But he changed his mind for Vanessa Michael Munroe. He and his production partner, Jon Landau, loved the character so much they made an offer to option the film rights.

Here I need to clarify that “option” doesn’t mean “purchase.”

An option is contractual way of saying “I really want this but need some time to figure out if I can do anything with it, so I’m going to offer you a little bit of money now and in exchange you’ll agree that you won’t sell these rights to anyone else for X amount of time. Then if, at the end of X amount of time, I decide I want to buy the rights, I will pay you XXX amount for them. If instead at the end of X amount of time I decide I don’t want to buy the rights then you can keep the little bit of money I already paid you and you can sell the rights to someone else.”

This is how most books and screenplays that go to TV and film get started.

At the time it was made very clear to me that their top priority was Avatar 2, and only after they’d finished with Avatar 2 would they be able to turn their attention to The Informationist. I had no problem with this. An option agreement was forged.

It was set to run for seven-years and would expire in 2020.

Seven years is typically enough time to make a movie, but the Avatar franchise isn’t like most movies. Within those years, while the technology was being created to handle the challenges and scope of the project, Avatar 2 expanded into Avatar 2 and 3. Then Avatar 2 and 3 expanded into Avatar 2, 3, 4 and 5, and there were multiple delays and production got pushed back several times. Within those years I also got to meet James Cameron and Jon Landau, and got to talk shop, and autograph their books (they both had copies of every title and were like yes, we read them! We're big fans!) which was kinda cool. In that meeting I was also able to raise my one true concern.

I was worried that with the scope of his projects being so big, The Informationist would keep getting pushed off, and pushed off, and would end up in the same no-mans-land that so many options go to die. James Cameron explained what it was that had drawn him to the character, and why he wanted to be the one to bring Munroe to life on screen. But he also said he wanted to see her on screen, period, more than he wanted to be the one to do it. He assured me that if it ever got to the point that it looked like he wouldn’t have the time or bandwidth to do the creative work himself, that he would do his best to use his connection to the project to see that it got put into good hands.

 
2020 arrived, Avatar 2 was still in production to say nothing of any of the sequels, and the option was set to expire. The production team reached out. They apologized for the delay but said they still really believed in The Informationist and still wanted to be the ones to get it done. Would I be willing to extend for another two years?

 
Of course, I said yes.

2022 arrived and Avatar 2 hadn’t even reached theaters yet. Again the production team reached out and this time they said they were letting the rights go. They still very much believed in the project but it was now obvious they were going to be tied up with Avatar for the foreseeable future and they didn’t want to stand in the way of The Informationist getting made at all. They felt the right thing to do was give someone else a shot at it.

At the time the news was devastating. It felt like any hope of getting Munroe on screen was over. But in time I came to realize that James Cameron had actually done me a favor. Letting the rights go was him keeping his promise from all those years ago. I don’t expect that he personally intervened to get the project into anyone’s hands specifically, but I am absolutely convinced that his name having been previously attached to the project is the only reason as many production companies took the time to read the material when it was submitted to them. And because so many took the time to read it, so many also saw its value, and more than ten years after its initial publication The Informationist suddenly became a hot property again.

 
This time around all of the interest was from the premium TV side of things (as opposed to film). In Hollywood-speak premium TV means streaming service type TV, not broadcast type TV. The first time the rights had gone to market—a full year or so before James Cameron came knocking—there’d also been a lot of TV interest, but I had turned all those offers down. The way I saw it, Munroe needed to be done right or not at all. Back then streaming hadn’t yet taken off and no one was making the types of well-written and high-budget series that we’ve since come to expect. But, this time around, with the way the entertainment world has changed, TV felt like an even better fit than film; an opportunity for a richer story and deeper character development and I was fully on board.

A number of well-known, highly regarded, and name-droppable production companies threw their hat in the ring to contend for the rights. I suspect there were others as well; these were just those that made it through the film agent’s filters as being worthy enough. The next several months were spent on zoom calls interviewing the people running each division to get a sense of who they were, what their vision for the character was, where this project would rank among their priorities, and how our personalities might jive. Then came the bids. (There are a lot of tangible-intangibles in these bids that cover more than just money and everything has to be weighted against everything else.) And then the negotiations. And at the end of 2022 The Informationist found a new home.

The industry being what it is, I can’t really offer much detail. But I can tell you that since then a pilot script has been written. I don’t have the skill to assess scripts the way I do books but I think it’s a pretty badass script. As to what happens next, who the heck knows?

The way these things go, the production company will attempt to attach talent (actors, actresses, director, etc.) to the project and then bring that as a package to a studio or broadcaster in an attempt to get it funded for production. In this scenario the studio or broadcaster is like a bank and the production company is like an entrepreneur asking the bank for a loan. As with any type of moneylending, the people with the money want assurance they’re going to get their money back. Having a solid package (good script, recognized talent, production company with a solid track record of delivering good content on budget, etc.) is like someone with a successful business track record presenting a good business plan. It’s definitely an important part of convincing the people with the money that they’re going to get their money back. But there are also other factors that have nothing to do with the person or the plan that can lead to a freeze on funding. Things like how cold/ hot things are in that specific industry, and what types of revenue similar businesses have recently pulled in, and the overall economic mood. And right now, all those external factors are making it a bigger challenge than usual to get projects funded.

 
I also often get asked about who will play / who I would like to see play Munroe. Truthfully, at this point I’d be happy if anyone played Munroe. That would mean the thing was being made. Here’s the important thing: It does no good to tell me who you would like to see play/ who you think would make a good Munroe. I have no say in this decision.

WRITING STUFF: In ye olden days, before my brain broke, back when I was contractually on a book-a-year treadmill, my entire life revolved around meeting those contractual deadlines. To do that while also juggling all the unpaid work that goes into trying to keep a writing career off life-support often required putting in twelve-hour workdays, six or more days a week. In case you didn’t know, it’s impossible to put in those kinds of hours and also do a good job at being a single parent mom while keeping a home life running smoothly. I did the best I could under the circumstances—especially considering I was also unknowingly contending with a chronic illness that was depriving brain of oxygen—but everything and everyone suffered, including me.

Eventually my brain broke and it all went belly up.

Five years post-brain break and as healed as can be hoped for, I’m finally able to write again. But getting words on the page is no longer my number one priority. Keeping brain function intact is far more important. This means I cannot put myself back into the pressure cooker that triggered the brain break in the first place. In practical terms this means I have to limit the time spent in front of the computer and can no longer put in the same long hours that I used to.

That pretty much covers the things I’ve missed, and catches you up on where I’m at now. And since no NEWSIE is complete without a giveaway…

GOODIES: This month there are four books in the giveaway pile. If you’d like to be entered to win, simply respond to this email with the subject “GOODIE GIVEAWAY.” If your email program likes to be difficult and won’t let you change the subject, just put GOODIE GIVEAWAY in the reply and I will make sure it gets to the right place.

The 3rd, 13th, 29th, and 43rd readers to respond will be prize winners this month. I read every single email that comes in but due to the volume, I’m ONLY able to respond to the 3rd, 13th, 29th, and 43rd respondents. If you email and don’t hear back, it’s not because I’m ignoring you, it’s because, due to time and volume, I just can’t.

[Standard buzzkill disclaimer for all giveaways and offers of free books: Void where prohibited or restricted by law. Limited to U.S. addresses. I am not responsible for lost or misrouted emails, interrupted or unavailable network or server connections, other computer or technical failures, or post office mishandling.]

-- Taylor